Great Chitter Chatter - Stories from Loud Voices

Teaching the locksmith craft can begin at a very young age.  When a child has an interest in the mechanics of things, in how things fit together and how they come apart, it can lead to a future with locks and other interesting mechanisms associated with locks.

The locksmith trade can be learned by experimenting, self-taught courses, apprenticeships, from a family member in the business, from videos, or through distance courses.  It takes a combination of these things to advance to the professional status.

If you choose to learn by experimenting, you could be setting yourself up for suspicion if anyone knows of your skills and something is stolen from an area you visited.  A lawsuit or jail time could ensue if the wrong person with a vendetta against you were to incriminate you falsely.  Becoming certified may be a step towards a legitimate and positive image of your craft and your character.

Should you desire to become an apprentice from an established locksmith, it is best to determine that this person is certified.  Know also that there are many aspects of the business to learn and you may need more training than an apprenticeship from one person.  If that person specializes in automotive locksmithing and you desire to learn military locksmithing, you’ll have a start in the right direction but will need more information and experience.

If you’ve considered becoming certified through a school or distance course, make sure that the school is certified and that the place where you purchase your distance course is legitimate and accredited.  If the school is a sham, even though you may learn everything you need to know, it may make your certificate a sham as well.  Your investment should be placed in respectable establishments.

Learning which area of locksmithing you’d be happiest choosing may require some research and/or experimentation.  Even if you choose an area and later decide to change your focus, the knowledge you’ve acquired could still come in handy in your career path.

Courses in becoming a locksmith can take nine months to two years to complete.  There is much to be learned through additional experience besides the courses.  You’ll need to update your knowledge and skills as time goes on.

The beginning of your career will usually involve books, hardware, and a key making machine.  There are many helpful forums on the internet to point you in the right direction and provide helpful hints as well.  Knowing which equipment to start with is a must.  If you have a limited budget to begin with, you’ll want to get the most from your money.  You can’t put all your money into the books and skip the key blanks.  You’ll need both.

Locksmiths service many types of businesses.  Unlocking cars is not the only way to make money in the business.  Many small towns don’t even have locksmith services.  If you can afford to run the business out of your home, you could be extremely helpful to people in rural communities.  Building a name for yourself through word-of-mouth in small areas can lead to loyal customers who are happy to spread the word and advertise for you.  This in turn leads to contracts with bigger businesses.  Learning the locksmith craft involves people skills as well as book work.

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Filmmaking is an orchestration of various elements that brings about the desired result, your story literally brought to life.  Screenplay, crew, actors, location, camera, lighting, sound, and editing are all working together to bring you the finished product.  One literally cannot do without the other.  Lighting however is what makes your production look professional and if you are looking to actually market your film you want it to be as professional as possible.

There are many professional lights kits on the market and many of them are quite reasonable, but in many cases they are not necessarily needed.  You can make your own light kit with a few things that can be purchased at the local hardware store.  There are lights found at the hardware store used in garage repair shops that are metal and that have a high reflectance.  These come with clips at the end and can be clipped and moved wherever you might need them.  These are great to use and you can use a number of different bulbs that will give different wattage and color.

The next items you must have in great numbers are extension cords.  These will be used in every other part of your filmmaking, but you really need them with setting up your lights.  Another very useful tool would be old sheet music stands or something similar that has a 3 leg stand that can be raised and lowered.  These can either hold the clip-on lights or a light diffusion material of some sort.  You will also need white board for white balancing your camera before you shoot, also white boards can be used as bounce cards for bouncing light back on a subject.

The last thing in your light kit will be some sort of diffusing material.  That can be any gauzy white material that the light will pass through.  You can use your stands with binder clips on them to clip the material too.  Shine your light through the material and this in turn will diffuse the light on the subject keeping it from being to bright or “hot” as they say in the business.

A consideration that most people starting out with lighting don’t consider is that light comes in different colors.  Only when you start using a camera do you find this out.  If you shoot in a room at night and you have only the interior lights to use, you may find the overall color of the light will be a little yellow.  This is because the bulb lights in your house are Tungsten light and these give off a yellowish cast.  Fluorescent lights give of a greenish cast that is quite unattractive, so if you film in an office building then that is a consideration as will.  Outside light is blue light and while you always want natural light, things may be a little too blue for you, especially when you shoot in the shade.

The absolute best time to shoot, to get that magical quality, is that time right before the sunset.  The sun is hanging low and directly on the faces of the subjects and gives everything a Carmel colored warm glow.  The only drawback here is that the sun sets quickly so have everything ready in anticipation of shooting the final minutes before the sun set.  Look at things at this time of day during late spring or in the summer and you will see what I am talking about.

The first thing to learn is the three-point lighting set up.  This is a standard lighting technique used by professional photographers, television taping, and shooting film.  This consists of three things: a key light to shine on the subject, a fill light to fill in the shadow created by the key light, and a backlight or kicker to use behind the subject to add dimension the subject.  You will use variations of the 3-point lighting set-up in most work you do.  I advise strongly that you practice this lighting set-up and shoot it to see how effectively it works.  You will have to move the lights a little here and there to get the desired effect but this is the must useful lighting strategy that there is.

It is always good to use natural lighting whenever possible.  Always remember that high noon is usually a harsh lighting situation and will cast unflattering shadows under the eyes and nose of the subject making them appear tired.  You will have to use a light low down on the ground to counter-act this effect.  Also anytime you light a subject from the ground as opposed to above the subject, you will get an eerie spooky effect that can be used in moments of suspense.  If you are not looking for this effect though it might be disturbing to viewers.

This is lighting in a nutshell and I would highly recommend that you take some production classes in order to practice and get some tips on lighting.

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